“At a press conference with Malaysian and international media on September 27, 2017, Bellew had expressed his commitment to Malaysia Airlines when asked to comment on speculation that he would re-join Ryanair.

“He said that he was happy to be in Malaysia and that the turnaround of Malaysia Airlines would be ‘the greatest achievement of my life’.”

Ryanair has confirmed that Bellew is to rejoin the low-cost airline as chief operations officer from December 1 – he previously worked for the carrier until 2014, most recently as director of flight operations.

Ryanair said that Bellew “will take over responsibility for all Ryanair’s flight operations, ground operations and engineering but with a specific responsibility for pilot production, training and career development with a mission to ensure that the pilot rostering failure which Ryanair suffered in early September will never be repeated”.

MAS said that its turnaround programme “remains on track and on schedule”, and that an announcement regarding Bellew’s successor will be made “in due course”.